Recipes from the Melting Pot of my Antipodean Kitchen

Chicken & Vegetable Sausage Rolls

The school which my children attend has a wonderful canteen that offers an extensive array of healthy and delicious lunch options. Though a couple of days ago when I stopped by to chat with the lovely lady who runs the canteen, she mentioned that there were 3 items on their menu that she would love to see removed, due to them being overly processed and shipped in, packed frozen in boxes ready for re-heating.

She asked whether I might help by coming up with a couple of home-made replacements that we could get the kids to sample over the next two weeks, with a view to adding them permanently to the menu when school goes back next year.

So this week, I’ve started playing around with a recipe for home-made Chicken Sausage Rolls, packed with a flavoursome range of veggies, to keep those dear little bodies and minds as healthy as possible. My fingers are crossed that the kids will all give them the thumbs up when we pass around some samples at lunchtime next week! I’ll be sure to let you know if they are a success… or if it’s back to the drawing board.

In a food processor (or by hand), very finely chop the onion, garlic, carrot and leek. Place into a large mixing bowl with the chicken, breadcrumbs, egg, herbs and seasonings and mix until well combined. Separate mixture into roughly 6 portions.

Cut each sheet of puff pastry in half and using hands, form a long sausage of mixture lengthways down the middle of each piece of pastry. Roll the pastry around the sausage mixture and use a little egg wash to help seal the seam. Cut each roll into about 6 smaller rolls and then place them (seam-side down) on baking trays lined with baking paper/parchment. Allow the un-cooked sausage rolls to rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

At this stage, pre-heat your oven to 200°C.

Just before placing in the oven, cut a couple of slits in the top of each roll (to avoid filling bursting from each end) and brush with a little egg wash. Bake at 200ºC for the first 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 180°C for a further 15 minutes, or until golden brown and fully cooked through.

Cooking Notes:

The onion, garlic and leek can be gently fried in a little olive oil and then cooled before adding to the rest of the ingredients. I find that this isn’t necessary if all vegetables are very finely chopped – a simple task with a food processor.

A variety of other vegetables could be added to this recipe – I’ll be trying some grated zucchini/courgette next time in lieu of the leek.

If the mixture feels too sticky, add another tablespoon or two of breadcrumbs.

Lidia, thankfully the kids loved them! It was a fun day prepping these in the canteen, despite the oven being somewhat aged and dodgy in it’s temperature settings… they all worked out fine in the end. Looks like they may well be on the menu for next year! 🙂

What an interesting and wonderful opportunity to make a change! I personally would gobble up a whole bunch of these (& very happily) and I’m confident the kids will love them. The only ingredient that worries me is thyme — that may not be every child’s cup of tea … but, time (and the kids) will tell! Wishing you success, Margot!

That’s fabulous Azita – I really appreciate your feedback on the recipe itself! Thyme (both fresh and dried) is something I use quite liberally in our home-cooking, but you’re right in the fact that it may not be to everyone’s liking. I think there’s enough flavour packed into these that the thyme could probably be omitted – food for thought! Thanks so much for your well wishes!

Hi Misha and a very warm welcome to G&G! Thanks for your kind comment.
Many Australian schools have their own canteen, though the menus can vary dramatically…
Was pizza the only thing on offer in your school? I can imagine getting sick of that too!
Cheers, Margot

Thanks! It’s really great – the school is heading in a wonderful direction, about to implement a program that incorporates a large kitchen garden (though separate from Stephanie Alexander’s wonderful program), along with lots of cooking and nutritional education amongst the kids, families and teaching staff. Exciting times ahead! 🙂

I would eat them! I used to be a very picky eater as a child, and the worst part of my day was the school lunch, as I usually ended up eating the tough bread roll, perhaps a yoghurt, and that was it. I thought I hated peas, carrots, beets, and most foods as a matter of fact, and I only realized quite recently (these past 10 years) that the peas were not the problem, but the way they were prepared at school.
But this is changing. My friends who teach here in France tell me that all over the country, the towns and school administations are choosing organic and locally farmed food more and more. And I hear that the food is becoming better and better, while remaining very cheap.
All of that being said, I think that even the picky eater (me) would have eaten your sausage rolls 🙂

Great to hear your thoughts on this issue Darya and fabulous that you’re hearing that change is in the air for French school lunches too. Institutional food has such a long history of providing substandard, lack-lustre, awful tasting food – that it’s high time it gets turned around and children given the best start to developing healthy (and delicious) eating habits.
My youngest child is a little like you were – visible signs of carrot and other vegetables in these sausage rolls were almost enough to put him off – though thankfully he gave them a shot and ended up liking them! 🙂 Cheers, Margot

Me too Suzanne – I love the fact that our canteen is doing all it can to create a healthy environment for our kids. When we lived in America, lunch at school used to be the worst part of my children’s day – due to the strange odours permeating from the kitchen and the nasty lunch ladies who used to flick the light switches on and off to tell the kids to quiet down. Needless to say, they would always take a packed lunch from home… 😉

Suzanne, I should have mentioned that our kids loved absolutely everything else about school-life in America – just not the lunchroom… They were challenged in their learning every day and gained so much from having a couple of years in the system over there!